Henry Bolton says that although most Runnymede & Weybridge electors tend to vote on “traditional lines” — namely, Conservative — he wants them to read his party’s manifesto and make a decision for themselves.

Born in Kenya, Mr Bolton has served in the army, worked for Thames Valley Police, commanded a NATO intelligence unit, and, most recently, worked for the UN in Macedonia as a mediator.

He believes that Liberal Democrat principles, which allow people to live their lives in the way they want, must be accompanied by a duty not to prevent others living theirs.

“We need to be tough in some areas,” he said. “Liberal governments in the past were incredibly tough.”

He said that, for those affected by crime, law and order is a serious problem.

“Just because the figures are low doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned. The idea that the Lib Dems are soft on law and order is rubbish,” he said. “We would introduce 100,000 more police officers.”

However, although the constituency does have problems with drugs and antisocial behaviour, he believes many antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) are being misused and would like a review.

“There is not, in many cases, sufficient evidence for individual ASBOs. We want them to be used effectively,” he said.

On planning, he said that houses didn’t necessarily bring happiness. “Development is obviously necessary. However, this area is quite densely populated and there’s not enough infrastructure,” he explained. “Quality of life is a key part of our policy — not just jobs and wealth and everybody stuck in a traffic jam.”

Mr Bolton said that the expansion of Heathrow Airport, even though it provided jobs, could affect quality of life and also damage the environment.

“We are demolishing homes in other parts of the country where there’s not enough development and people are moving down here for jobs. It’s a crazy situation,” he said.

He is concerned about negative campaigning on immigration, but supports Lib-Dem plans to introduce a border police force and count the number of people who actually leave the country after visiting.

“The Government can’t tell us how many people are in the country at any one moment.”

He supports the war in Iraq in principle but said it was still an election issue. “I do believe it was necessary to remove Saddam,” he said.

“However, the Labour Government did not trust the British people to support the war so they spun the weapons of mass destruction issue. It affects everybody when a government is deceitful.”

The candidate is realistic about his chances. “We’re informing people as to what our policies are,” he said. “They decide based on that, I hope. What’s important is that we demonstrate that we are a serious party with serious policies and with significant support.”

He believed that the Tories had been complacent about the constituency because of their comfortable majority.

“I don’t think Philip Hammond is doing very much and a vote for Philip is a vote for the Tory Party,” he said.

The Lib Dems want to replace the council tax with a local income tax. Mr Bolton said: “There are going to be people who are financially worse off, but they are the minority, even in Runnymede & Weybridge.”

He urged people who might baulk at proposals to increase national income tax on those earning more than £100,000, to look at his party’s whole package of policies.

“If you’ve got children or grandchildren who are going to university, they won’t have to pay tuition or top-up fees,” he said. “If people believe in fairness and being part of a wider community, and can look at the situation of their children, they might see our policies differently.

“We may not be in government but we have been successful in pressuring it to adopt some of our policies.”

Bolton plans to move into the borough if elected and believes his past experience could prepare him for life in the constituency. “I don’t have a thorough knowledge of the area but I’m used to being ‘parachuted’ in and having to make important decisions,” he said.